PCBU duties — what is reasonably practicPCBU duties — what is reasonably practicable?

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PCBU duties – what is reasonably practicable?

The standard of ‘reasonably practicable’ in health and safety duties applies to a PCBU. Other duty holders are required to meet different standards, for example officers must exercise ‘due diligence’ and workers and others at a workplace must take ‘reasonable care’.

‘Reasonably practicable’, in relation to a duty to ensure health and safety, means that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done to ensure health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including:

\- the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring; and
\- the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk; and
\- the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk; and
\- what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or risk, and about the ways of eliminating or minimising the risk; and
\- after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.

The greater the risks, the more that is required to be done to eliminate or minimise it. This may mean using more than one, or a combination of control measures.

Where psychosocial hazards are only present for short periods, infrequently and are not severe, it may not be reasonable to implement expensive and time-consuming control measures. It may, however, be reasonable to apply less expensive controls.

Multiple control measures may be required. The aim must be to keep trying to lower the likelihood and degree of harm until further steps are not reasonably practicable in the circumstances.

Psychosocial hazards can interact or combine with other psychosocial hazards to increase the risks. This means controlling the risks associated with one hazard can also minimise the risks from other psychosocial hazards.

When considering each control or combination of controls, a duty holder must take into account the likelihood of a particular control being effective.